Sue de Beer usually makes lush, sexy, frightening films based on female
adolescence, but here she shifts to an exploration of the repression and
release of a grown woman living in 1740s Connecticut. Manipulating
montage, dream sequences, and nonsensical time and place, the artist
presents disjointed cinematic scenarios more than a true plot.
Psychedelic scenes pop up, as does a man playing with an inexplicable
dream machine. The protagonist's tragic story romances as much as it
disturbs - her pretty face, form, and free-flowing crimson blood make
for beautiful imagery, and a heartbeat soundtrack adds visceral
intimacy. As the narrator says at the film's close, "Beauty lives only
in mystery - beauty is the mystery." (LM)